Spent the morning shopping with Teresa and Valarie and Kensho.  Then we met Kozue for lunch; she is my host family member.  I picked this place to eat at the mall that was called baguette. We waited in line to be seated.  Baguette is famous for serving many varieties of breads as appetizers before you eat.  Valarie, Teresa and I met Kozue for lunch at Bell Mall in front of the bells. 

 I so enjoyed this lunch, I ordered an gratin potatoes for lunch and it was very good.  Last time i was here I hated the cheese on anything as it never tasted like cheese. It looked melted but it was hard  and just not the way its made in Ohio.  Now the cheese is great and melted along with a great taste.  I was dropped off first and told Teresa and Valarie I will see them Sunday and Monday.  The sunset tonight was gorgeous.

I stayed up stairs until I heard Susumo talking out loud.  At first I thought he was playing with their cats but come to find out it was their grandson louie.  I enjoyed playing with him.  Susumo made me grapefruit shohi which turned out to be very tasty.    Susumo placed Louie in front of their piano and Louie enjoyed trying out his playing ability on the piano.

Susumo played along with him at times.  It was nice to watch the two of them together. 

 Susumo put some pumpkin seeds he had got from China in a skillet and heated them up.  I did enjoy eating them with him.

Traditional Japanese Lunch with Friends/Shopping/visit Mioko

Today is going to be a clear warm day. Ate breakfast with Susumo and Kazue took me to Teresa's house.  Once at Teresa's which her apartment is located on 6th floor I could look out and see Nikko Mountains.  Finally the view is clear enough to see some mountains.

Today before leaving Teresa's apartment she got me a extra suitcase that I could start packing for my trip home.  I am sending all glass and my samurai doll with Teresa's shipment back to the USA.  They will be moving back to Ohio in June and her ocean shipment will be sent out Tuesday.
I am very anxious today as we are going to go pick up Hitomi and Kurimi at JR Train Station today at 11am. First we must go pick up Valarie and Kencho as they are part of the group of friends who will be eating lunch together. They are in the car and now its time to head to train station.


 As soon as we parked car at train station I saw them coming down stairs to find us.  I jumped out of car and gave them a big welcome hug.  I was so glad to see my good friends.  We all made introductions to each other.  Immediately we all became good friends and will remain that way always.  Once we arrived at the Gassen I wanted to hurry and get out of car to get some pictures.  The place is very nice.

 Once inside under the covering to the left was a beautiful porch set up with Japanese style tables, a beautiful waterfall in the back and on the side was a beautiful Camilla tree in bloom.  The doors that opened to the porch were very interesting.

 We were greeted at door by hostesses in kimono's. We all took our shoes off and looked around the inside at the decorations.

My friends Hitomi and her daughter Kirumi. I'm so happy that they came to Utsunomiya to spend a day with me.


 I really liked the Japanese decorations throughout the entrance.

We are now being escorted to room 201 where we will all feast on some traditional Japanese food.  The interior is very original looking.

Once the hostess opened the bamboo doors I could not believe how traditional the room was.  Long short table, with hot tea and tea cups on the table, along with chop sticks sitting on holder.

We are early and Mioko and Yoko have not arrived yet, I must extend a very big THANK YOU to Yoko san for picking such a great restaurant .  My friends are all in awe of this place just like I am. We sit and sip some tea that taste and smells like peanuts. I like the taste and smell.  Mioko and Yoko have arrived and we are all excited to have them join in on this special event.  I received a very nice gift from Mioko.  Thank you Mioko for thinking of me.  I am so lucky to have you as a good friend. I will miss you so much when I go back to Ohio.

Mioko san orders for all of us and I have no idea what to expect.  The service from everyone was wonderful.  The hostess is now bringing in our food.  When a jar was set in front of me all kinds of things were running through my head.  LOL  I thought wow do we put our hand in the cookie jar and what ever we pull out that is what we have ordered.  Later I was told that the jar comes apart in 3 pieces. As I took the 3 pieces to the jar apart there were several small sections with different kinds of food in them.  I did not recognize one thing that I knew what it was.....oh boy this is going to be a challenge for me.   

YOKO was telling me what the items were in each tray but still left me puzzled to how they would taste.  The looks of the food to me was strange looking like roots and skins from various vegetables. I did try a little of everything and there were a couple of things I did eat all of it. 

 Now when Kencho received his order it was more Western.  They brought out a box with 3 drawers and each drawer it had food.  

We have finished our lunch and now its time for dessert and tea.  When they brought in dessert I was surprised that it was in a glass with brown thick liquid.  Things that make you say hummmm? There also was a stick that was delivered with the sweet treat.  I stirred it and it was sweet and thick, I just was having a hard time getting over the looks of the drink to drink it all.  The cup of espresso coffee was in a very pretty cup.

Before we left Gassen we had a group photo taken of all of us.

It is now time to leave and Yoko tells us about a coffee shop right down the street and ask if we want to go.  I surely wanted to go so we followed her.  Everyone went to coffee house that was at lunch today. While shopping  as a service to us the owners served us espresso on trays with a beautiful flower on our trays and a small piece of cake. I loved shopping here, as a present to Kurumi for going to college I gave her a cherry blossom glass as gift.  Hope everytime she uses it she thinks of me. 

We have been invited to come over to Mioko's house for coffee and cake.  I have never been to her house.  We followed Yoko who knew a back way to Mioko's house but it was like driving on a snake road, lots of twists and turns, about made me sick.  Mioko's house is big and beautiful.  She even has a nice size yard, most Japanese have very small green space around their homes.  The inside of her house was also beautiful.  I loved the interior design she has done a wonderful job.  I smiled when I asked her where she got her table and chairs and she told me Plain City, Ohio.  That is right down the road from I live in Ohio.  Kensho played with Wendy Mioko's dog.  The rest of us ladies looked at a book on antiques.  It is strange that we can buy some of the items I saw in the book for a cheap price and there they can be sold for lots more.  

Mioko is busy preparing tea and cake for all of us.  We each got a nice tray with cup and piece of cake. Yoko san poured us all some hot tea.  I loved the tea pot and holder to keep it warm.  Wow would love to have. 

We all enjoyed each others company, I am having such a wonderful time.  

Yoko is a wonderful sensei for painting.  The trays with cups and box that Mioko painted with help from her sensei Yoko are absolutely beautiful.

It is time to leave and say good bye to Yoko and Mioko.  I will never forget the fabulous time I have had with all these very special friends.  I feel so lucky to have been able to come to Japan and make such wonderful people.  Thank you all for being so kind and generous to me. 

When I got back to Koche's house I worked on my blog and for the first time thought about taking picture of sunset. The sunset was beautiful tonight.

 I sat down and ate with her around 6pm.  She was having some Japanese ladies over for English class so we ate early.  I sat with them through the class and Susumo helped too.  We talked about directions on how to get places.  Susumo drew a map and I told them I was lost and wanted to go to grocery store.  I wanted them to tell me easy directions in English.  Both ladies enjoyed their time in class as having me there helped because I only spoke to them in English and they practiced speaking English to me.  

Good Night........